Heading down to Happy Valley near Brighton, (a place nowhere near as happy as the name suggested..) for the 4th round of the London Cyclocross League. The course was relatively flat and dry and full of long stretches, sharp turns and a few hurdles for good measure.

Still recovering from the previous weeks crash; things were understandably sore but having friends Jimmi Nicholls from Attacus (The creator of the kit I donned for the race) and Josh Ibbett from Hunt Wheels instantly lightened the mood. Jimmi a confessed coffee snob and in his words "ex racer" was attempting his first cyclocross race ever. Josh in contrast a Transcontinental winner with a palmares as long as a piece of string confessed he hasn't raced cyclocross since his uni days. I always knew he would be strong.. (He's just modest.)

Josh showing how it's done on his Titanium Mason

A large field racing from across the South East and London.

The race itself, a headwind, jumps and some sharp corners. That pretty much sums it up. It was a quick course which could have easily been very different had the weather changed. There were a few nasty crashes, commonly at the hurdles. My attitude with these always is dismount, run, remount. Let's not get cocky..

Take it easy on those hurdles. Too often you see some nasty crashes here